Otford To Bundeena

Today Total: 29k
Week Total: 53k
Month Total: 29k
Year Total: 1713k

Wow!

What a run - I must say I think it was a bit harder than I was expecting. Very technical in places - no real sustained up bits but plenty of short steep numbers. Scenery? Su-bloody-perb. The best bit for me was I nailed the navigation for the whole way which was very satisfying.

After meeting Martin and KT at Bundeena (all of us in matching CR tri-tops). Kevin drove us to Otford where there was a bunch of hoons who were on the wacky backy and booze and had been partying all night who were really acting out - but thankfully left before the start.

Eventually 13 happy souls responded when Kevin said "ready, set, go" - me last of all - I was happy to sit in tail end charlie posie because I was sporting the camelbak complete with almost 3L of water - most others just had fuel belts or hand bottles (which I suspect they may have regretted later on).

After a bit Linda tailed off from the pack and invited me to go past but by the time we had reached the top of the first rise the pack was out of sight. I started to leave Linda behind and felt a bit guilty but I rationalised that she too had a camelbak so should be ok - as it turned out we would see her in the distance from time to time so we pretty much knew she was ok.

Hitting the technical section of downhill towards the Palm Jungle I put the foot down a bit and before long had tagged onto the back of a five person pack - James, Lisa, Shelly, Simon, KT - and I made it six. We wouldn't see the rest except for one glimpse till the end.

It was a pretty amicable group that wound its way through the palm jungle (what a maze) and then finally out into the open towards Burning Palms.

The first of the steep climbs up out of Burning Palms had us huffing and puffing but also "oohing and aghing" at the view. As is usual I struggled to keep up and was continually falling off the back. I made a good decision however and kept to the high ground between South and Mid Era while the others descended to the beach - this good fortune put me in front of the pack and allowed me a little breather while they caught up just past the surf club.

We then roller coastered through North Era and Little Garie and I hit the go button down the big hill to the trail under Garie Cliffs - full well knowing that the others would pick me up again once I hit the flat. We trudged across Garie Beach and commenced the biggest of the days climbs and APU I fell off the back again.

After we were all tempted to stay by the cliff (and the views) we did lose the track for a fraction and we all got a bit of impromptu exfoliation on our legs as the heath gave us some souvenier scratches. Just after this Kevin had a bit of a rush of blood to the head and pumped out a 5.50 k across the springy metal mesh boardwalk and as we headed toward Curracurrong the group started to splinter - Simon, James, Shelly and Lisa took off, leaving Kevin, Martin and I shuffling along behind with occasional glimpses of the others - though we did regroup at Eagle Rock (complete with mandatory singing).

Off again and the same pattern as before - except when dropping down to Curracurrang I put a bit of distance on Kevin and Martin and the others were quickly out of sight in front of me. Across the top of the headland and I heard a faint yell - looking up about 200m to my left I saw Shelly who had become temporarily geographically challenged and she nimbly made her way through the heath towards me. Just as Shelly joined me Kevin and Martin also caught up with me (it was an uphill section) and so all four of us ran together down towards Wattamolla.

It was one of those really nice trail experiences - we were all running really well down a broad new cut trail two and sometimes three abreast nattering on - it was nice. I took over navigation duties through Wattamolla and then let Shelly through as she was clearly the strongest runner in our group and she was quickly out of sight. I continued to put some distance on Kevin and Martin but they were never far away.

Running towards Little Marley and I got the shock of my life when Simon and Lisa came past me - wot tha? Turns out they (and James) had gaffed at Wattamolla and had to back track. They were quickly out of sight again but as it turned out we would play leap frog for a bit because they made a couple of more minor nav errors whereas I was lucky enough to stay on the trail.

At one leap frog Simon was distracted by some Japanese tourists (wot tha MkII?) and had a little tumble introducing the first claret into the days run on one of his knees. I led the way down into Little Marley but Simon and Lisa soon left me behind as my square feet sunk further and further into the sand.

Shelly was waiting at the North end of Little Marley so our group was back to four and James, Kevin and Martin were only a little bit behind us. I stuck with them (ish) to the top of the headland and onto Marley Beach but then it was "ta ta" as they were much faster once the running recommenced in earnest and that was the last I would see of those three till the end.

Trudging across Marley it was only a matter of time till James caught me - which he did just near the North end of the beach. We walked together up the rise (it was here we came across Nikolai who was doing the return journey) but eventually James got going again and took off - I wouldn't see him again till the end either.

I pretty much maintained a 200m to 300m gap on Kevin and Martin for the rest of the run - though we did come within shouting distance as they dropped down into the last significant creek crossing (where I took a quick break to take a slurp o'natural).

Kevin had made a last minute decision to extend the run by detouring to Jibbon Beach - the trail is the sandiest most miserable trail I've ever run on (thanks Kevin). To cap it off I narrowly escaped stepping on a Marsh Snake which scared the bejeezus out of me. I kept shuffling and eventually I hit Jibbon Beach - it was such a relief to run on the harder packed wet sand.

When I was about half way along the beach I turned and I could see Kevin and Martin which was also relief as by that stage I was having irrational paranoid thoughts that they (and everyone in front of me) were taking the shorter option and I was the only dill doing the extension - happily I wasn't the only dill :-)

Most had stuck around at the finish which was right friendly of them and I hit the RSL in 4.29 - yowser! We were joined shortly afterwards by Kevin and Martin and about 10 mins later by Linda who in my view ran a very intelligent run - I suspect she will do just fine at Six Foot.

All up 29.11k according to Garmy - speaking of Garmy I used the "Route" function for the first time (I've done this many times before with other GPS's) and it worked perfectly - I just put in all the waypoints then created the route - hit "Navigate" and hey presto.... very happy with it.

After a bit of a natter everyone headed off and I drove Kevin back to Otford.

A couple of points - anyone contemplating this run - do not underestimate it - it's a tough run - there is no reliable water along the way (though twice I took a slurp from a creek) and there is also no tree cover after the Palm Jungle (near the start) - it is very exposed and on a sunny day would be very, very, hot.

Harder than I expected but terrific fun, fantastic scenery and great company - I think I could learn to love Fatass - thanks Kevin for putting it on.

:-)